Closed Chelsea 2-0 Leicester City

[petre.ispirescu 4,928]

Football matches are more fun w/o Torres.

Courtois motm.

Now Agent Lukaku must deliver.

[Myself 793]

he was quite average actually

How? He was brilliant.

Being honest here, Fabregas was horrible today.

[Styles 9,790]

Matic and Fabregas were also dispossessed in areas that almost led to us conceding a goal. Leicester was pressing and anticipating passes pretty well, many won't acknowledge that but it was the reason why we were countered so dangerously at times.

It's seemingly everybody's dream partnership so you won't hear much criticism but they were exposed today. Mourinho's not dumb, that won't be the first choice midfield for much longer. Get ready for some Ramires, guys.

[ZOS 580]

No need to panic over the first half display .... TIME is all we need. Cheers guys. Good night

[darrus 422]

God it's so great to have a striker... Missed the feeling so much.

Costa was average most of the match but did his job when it counted, and that's all that matters.

I'm voting Courtois my MOTM. His brilliant save at 0-0 was one of the most important things in the match, no way we would have won if that ball went in.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Few of those chances or shots were great enough to truly challenge Schmeichel. I watched all the match until the Costa goal and about half of it afterward. I wasn't impressed by anything but Iva and Courtois

We created enough chances today to win even more comfortably but we just weren't clinical enough and Kasper made some good saves as well. I don't know how anyone could be so dissatisfied with that 2nd half performance.

[iseah100 5,612]

Eden Hazard game in numbers:

Goals: 1

Shot accuracy: 100%

Chances Created: 7

Take ons: 11

Pass accuracy: 89%

[RoyalBlues 4,050]

Weird, maybe I watched different match, I thought Leicester GK make some great save. Football commentator in my tv said both of GK having a great match.

[MrExcalibur100 7,124]

It's seemingly everybody's dream partnership so you won't hear much criticism but they were exposed today. Mourinho's not dumb, that won't be the first choice midfield for much longer. Get ready for some Ramires, guys.

Some top European sides don't even play with holding midfielders. The point is that we should be dominating matches in terms of quality of possession far more than we did today. When you have so many flair players on the pitch and you play like Tony Pulis' Stoke City or Wimbeldon in the 1990's then you're asking to be scored on.

[Dion 2,476]

It's seemingly everybody's dream partnership so you won't hear much criticism but they were exposed today. Mourinho's not dumb, that won't be the first choice midfield for much longer. Get ready for some Ramires, guys.

It is my dream partnership too

In all seriousness though, I'm not sure having Ramires instead of Cesc would have made much of a difference there. If anything he would have misplaced some of the passes Cesc performed. And I suppose Matic would still be there but he struggled a bit today.

[Sheva. 5,373]

Leicester didn't play as we expected them to, I'm sure that's one of the reasons we took a while to settle.

We also tried to play the same narrow football that worked against Burnley, but there was no space and time to execute.

Everything was much better when Azpi and Ivan started going forward much more in the 2nd half.

[BlueLion. 21,491]

https://twitter.com/CarelessChelsea/status/503216571989630976

[edetarod 2,155]

didn't see the game

did they park the bus? did we manage to create clear cut opportunities ?

[TLaw10 28]

I was a little worried after the sluggish start, but once they woke up they really put a lot of pressure on the opposition. I thought Oscar really performed well and made some nice through balls. Courtois was solid and really saved the day with that one on one. I really like how he plucks the ball out of the air and is immediately looking for an outlet to push the pace. Hazard took awhile before he got anything going but once he found his rhythm he really put some good touches and attacks in motion. I thought Costa up until his goal was having a down game, seemed to really give the ball away numerous times. The good thing about him is he has amnesia and is a killer in front of the net. Overall i was excited that the team didnt let one go, got 3 points and showed that when they turn it on they can dominate. Now if we can play two halfs that way is the next step

[Chelsea? 892]

Our lack of motivation is really gonna become a problem. Idk if you guys remember but last year started out in similar fashion.

Really wish Jose had kept Oscar on. He had his most productive 5 min in a Chelsea shirt since the Juve game and Jose takes him off.

Willian did amazing in his cameo. Looked like a more stable Oscar.

Our defense looks shaky again early in the season.

Think Willian should start next week. The rest of the line up should probably stay in tact

[Daniel1980 1,425]

How? He was brilliant.

Being honest here, Fabregas was horrible today.

I'm not sure what match you were watching. He wasn't amazing, but he was solid(far more solid than Matic). 94% pass accuracy, 4 key passes, 3 successful dribbles, 1 assist( ), 2 shots on target. Whoscored gave him 7.95 rating for this match.

[The Skipper 20,609]

It's seemingly everybody's dream partnership so you won't hear much criticism but they were exposed today. Mourinho's not dumb, that won't be the first choice midfield for much longer. Get ready for some Ramires, guys.

Nope, I think we'll continue to see the Matic - Fabregas pivot especially in games where we're expected to dominate, like this one. We had our best period in the game in the 2nd half without Ramires on the pitch. Today's first half performance wasn't solely due to Fabregas and Matic failing to fully control the midfield. The whole team was substandard. Also you need to stop looking at it as a Fabregas - Matic duo, and start looking at it as a Oscar - Fabregas - Matic trio.

Sure, against better teams we'll put in Ramires, and Ramires will get plenty of game time but it won't be because of 'Matic - Fabregas' per se. I look at Ramires as Oscar's competition tbh, or as let's say the 4th midfielder that can come in and replace Fabregas, Oscar or even Matic.

[The Skipper 20,609]

Fabregas was horrible? Wow, I don't know what people are watching sometimes. Sure, he wasn't amazing but he had a solid game, especially in the 2nd half. People are putting too much stock into that first half performance.

[Barbara 15,149]

As I said I haven't watched the first half, but can't people let it go? Can't people cut the team some slack? Courtois, Eden and especially Oscar, Schurrle and then Ramires and Willian have been back training for just a few weeks. The team is still shaping up, we're changing tactics, new players are settling and we've been winning the matches convincingly. That's why I said in the Burnley thread that in the first few weeks all I cared about were the results. We have scored 5 goals in two matches, we kept a CS today, the players are working their socks in the pitch, and the results are there, two comfortable wins, even if the first half was as bad as you keep saying (I know whose opinion to trust and whose to ignore though).

Give it time, we have a striker, I think our three AM's and then Willian did a great job in the second half, we will progress but it needs time. I know it's hard for the Mc Donalds' generation to understand that sometimes you need to wait things, but well, that's life, the earlier you get used to it, the better for you.

[HarryCFC 23]

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